Devastation in windsor

Lacy D.

It was an ordinary day. My dad dropped me off for school at Windmill Daycare. My grandma would then pick me up afterwards to drop me back off at my mom’s house. I walk inside after saying my goodbyes to my dad.

“Bye daddy! I love you most!” I exclaimed while stumbling over my own feet. I walk into my class and set my backpack down with my favorite blanket for nap time. I carry on with my day. When recess comes we all sprint out to the playground. I always go to the spinny thing by the slide. My friends come and push me on it to see how long I can last. I stay on there longer than anyone else. Once I got off I felt sick to my stomach. It was kind of chilly that day, it was cloudy and drizzling. It started to rain harder so our teachers made us go back inside, good thing it was nap time! Everyone goes back to the classroom and starts getting out their stuff to get nice and comfy. I immediately grab my blanket.

Once everyone calms down my teacher comes in and tells us that we need to take cover. No one knows what is going on and we all start to panic. We go to the gymnasium to take cover there because all of the other rooms had been taken already. The entire back wall was made of glass so we could see everything going on outside. There were grey and black swirling clouds swallowing the sky. Some even looked green. My heart was pounding so hard in my chest that I could hear it in my head. Finally, our teachers managed to calm us down. Then the hail started to hit the roof. At first it started out slow, thud… thud… thud.

It started to hit the roof rapidly. It echoed through the halls and the infants started to cry. We had to keep calm and not panic. A storm was coming, and it was coming straight for us. We needed to stay calm in order to help out the teachers. They were doing everything in their power to keep us safe. I could see cars starting and driving away, one after another. In the distance I could see a monster. A giant, spiralling vortex of wind and debris heading right for my school. My heart drops. It picks up everything in its path. It throws cars and fences across the field. With every second I’m looking at it, it’s getting closer. The hail is so loud it’s almost unbearable. The wind is screaming. The teachers come and tell everyone to put our heads down and cover them with our hands. Eventually, after waiting for less than 5 minutes, the glass shatters. Rain and hail is falling in through the glass. One of my teachers screams. A glass shard had pierced right through her hand. Everyone was screaming to keep their heads down with our hands covering them. I look up and see that the beast is right outside.

“Oh dear lord” I thought, “Please let this terrible, terrible storm pass without very much damage. Please let it miss my house, and my mom and Jimmy.” It rips through the front of my school. Luckily there was no one in the front.

The wind calms down, the rain slows, the hail stops. The storm, the monster, has passed. My teacher grabs us all and brings us in for a hug. We all walked past our classroom, or what used to be our classroom. We walk out of the doors that were now across the street and we end up outside. Everything had been destroyed. The playground, the neighborhood across the street, the parking lot, but somehow the bank managed to stand through it all. They take every single kid over to the bank and we wait until our family can come get us. I had no clue how long I was going to be waiting there for. I was hoping that my mom would be waiting for me and I could just run and jump into her arms but she wasn’t there. My teacher walks over to me and hands me her phone, it’s my mom.

“Hi mommy.”

“Honey? Are you alright?” she asked frantically.

“Yes I’m okay. My blanket is gone.”

“Oh honey, we will get you another one okay? Grandma is going to be there soon with Jimmy to pick you up okay? They won’t let me leave work so I will see you when I get home okay?”

“Okay mommy, when are they going to be here?”

“Very soon, okay? I have to go, I love you more than anything sweetheart. Bye honey.”

“I love you too mommy.”

After what seemed like hours, I finally see them pull up to get me. My grandma runs over to me and picks me up to pull me into a bear hug. It was the warmest, longest and amazing hug I’ve ever felt. I run over to Jimmy and he does the same thing. I get into the back seat and I wait for them to pull off of the rubble that used to be a parking lot. Power lines were blocking the roads and trees were uprooted everywhere. People were standing outside of their used-to-be homes and cars were rolled onto their sides. There were people trying to clean off the roads but there was so much rubble and debris that they could barely get one lane cleared. I was scared to see what my house looked like. We kept driving and I kept silent the entire ride home. I couldn’t believe my eyes, that one storm could do this much damage. Once we got home I was beyond grateful to see that my house was still standing. I go inside and immediately run to my cats and give them a huge hug and shower them with kisses. I wasn’t sure if i was ever going to see them again. I wasn’t sure if I was even going to be able to come out from the school.

Every day I thank God that I was able to walk away from that storm alive. There was a fatality and it wasn’t me. Everything from then on is history.